Kings’ Cousins suspended for punching Mavericks’ Mayo in groin

The NBA announced Wednesday that Cousins is suspended for one game without pay after hitting Mayo below the belt.

With less than four minutes remaining before Mavericks beat Dallas, Cousins and Mayo got into a shoving match. A slow motion video revealed later that Cousins smacked the Mavericks’ guard in the groin area. Although Cousins insisted that the action was not intentional, the NBA thought otherwise and ruled to keep him in his seat on their game next year.

Cousins said that watching the incident in slow motion made it appear that he did it on purpose, but he said he was just swinging his hand backward to push Mayo’s hand away.

The two players later engaged in a verbal spat with Mayo accusing Cousins of having “mental issues” after resorting to such dirty tactics. Cousins also slurred insults on Mayo, saying the man doesn’t have a great image either.

It wasn’t the first time that Cousins earned a suspension from a game. He was earlier banned from two games after a heated exchange with San Antonio Spurs TV commentator Sean Elliot in November.

Since posting, the video racked up nearly one million views on YouTube.